Shigella Lawyer

As of Thursday night, October 29, 2015, the number of outbreak associated cases of Shigella reported to Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD) now stands at 190; 152 of these cases are Santa Clara County residents and 38 reported cases are people who live in other counties. Of the 190 total cases, 99 are lab confirmed; 78 of which are Santa Clara County residents. There are 21 confirmed cases from other jurisdictions, including San Mateo , Alameda, Santa Cruz, Marin and Merced Counties. Nearly all of the cases have reported that they ate at Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant on Friday October 16th or Saturday October 17th.

As of Monday, October 26, 2015, the number of outbreak-associated cases of Shigella reported to Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD) now stands at 188; 150 of these cases are Santa Clara County residents and 38 reported cases are people who live in other counties. Of the 188 total cases, 85 are lab confirmed; 65 of which are Santa Clara County residents. There are 20 confirmed cases from other jurisdictions, including the counties of San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Marin and Merced. Nearly all of the cases have reported that they ate at Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant on Friday October 16th or Saturday October 17th.

Shigella, an intestinal diarrheal disease, has been confirmed in 72 of 182 ill people linked with Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant at 205 N. Fourth St., public health officials said.

Two San Jose men and one woman who ate at the restaurant and caught shigella filed separate lawsuits last week alleging negligence against the restaurant owners. The suits were filed through Rains Lucia Stern in California and Marler Clark, a Seattle-based firm specializing in food-borne illness litigation.

The total breaks down to 144 cases in Santa Clara County and 38 across the other four counties, public health officials said.

Of the 72 people with a confirmed infection, 55 are in Santa Clara County while the remaining 17 are in Santa Cruz, Alameda, Marin and Merced counties, according to public health officials.

Eight adults and a child in Alameda County have been confirmed with the infection, Alameda County public health spokeswoman Sherri Willis said.

In Santa Cruz County, three people have been found with shigella, one being through a secondary source, and two others are suspected to have the illness.

San Mateo County Health System officials have reported three confirmed cases of shigella.

The restaurant was closed on Oct. 18 after a majority of the sick people ate there one or two days earlier. Inspectors from the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health continue to investigate the outbreak.

As of October 22, 2015 the number of outbreak-associated cases of Shigella reported to Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD) has risen to 141; 118 of these cases are Santa Clara County residents and 23 reported cases are people who live in other counties. Of the 141 total cases, 49 are lab confirmed; 35 of which are Santa Clara County residents. There are 14 confirmed cases from other jurisdictions, including San Mateo County, Alameda County and Santa Cruz County. Almost all of the cases ate at Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant on Friday or Saturday (October 16th or 17th). Many of the ill ate at Mariscos San Juan restaurant #3, a Mexican seafood eatery at 205 N. Fourth St. last Friday or Saturday, Santa Clara County public health officials said.

Santa Clara County public health officials expect to receive laboratory results taken from food handlers of the restaurant next week.

An inspection report dated Sunday showed partially cooked food including shrimp broth and octopus were not properly cooled to 41 degrees before they were placed in refrigerator inserts, which presented a major risk.

The report called for the food preparation surface to be sanitized.

Another inspection report on August 5th showed the restaurant did not have food handler cards available but met requirements for storing food at appropriate temperatures; proper eating, drinking and tasting at the food preparation area; and adequate hand-washing facilities.

According to a Public Health Warning, on Saturday afternoon, October 17, 2015, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department was notified by a local hospital of 5 patients with fever and diarrhea who had all eaten at the same restaurant. Subsequent case finding has revealed a total of over two dozen individuals with fever and diarrhea who ate at Mariscos San Juan restaurant (205 N. 4 Street) in downtown San Jose on Friday October 16 or Saturday October 17. The restaurant was closed on Sunday morning and remains closed.

Of the ill persons, over a dozen have tested positive for Shigella by PCR, and one has a blood culture growing Shigella sonnei; almost all of the reported cases have required hospital admission, and 11 are in intensive care. There are other individuals who were seen and not admitted or who were ill but did not seek medical attention.

Shigella infection can be subclinical, but typically causes watery or bloody diarrhea with abdominal pain, fever, tenesmus, and malaise. Shigella is very infectious with just 10 -100 organisms are sufficient to cause disease. Transmission occurs via the fecal – oral route and can be spread by eating food prepared by an infected food handler or by direct person – to – person contact. Sexual transmission may also occur. Young children, the elderly, and HIV – infected individuals with CD4 count < 200 are more likely to have severe symptoms including dehydration, bacteremia, and seizures.

Shigella sonnei has spread via international travelers to 32 states and Puerto Rico, US health officials say.

Between May 2014 and February 2015, a drug-resistant strain of shigella has infected 243 people across the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC’s findings were first published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The CDC found that 90 percent of cases of the shigellosis infection analyzed in Massachusetts, California, and Pennsylvania were resistant to ciprofloxacin (Cipro), the top shigellosis antibiotic in the US.

The agency found that the potent, Cipro-resistant strain was “repeatedly introduced as ill travelers returned and was then infecting other people in a series of outbreaks around the country.” Many shigella strains in the US were already considered too advanced for other drugs, including ampicillin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

The CDC added that shigellosis spreads quickly among nursing homes, “childcare facilities, homeless people and gay and bisexual men, as occurred in these outbreaks.”

“These outbreaks show a troubling trend in Shigella infections in the United States,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a public statement.

The CDC was first alerted to the new breed of shigella – which causes diarrhea in those infected – in December. Further investigation found that the strain was resistant to Cipro. The agency found that international travelers were largely responsible for the strain’s introduction, while other cases, including around 100 infections among the homeless population in San Francisco, were contracted by other means.

Nancy Luna yesterday reported that Zov’s restaurant in Irvine was forced to shut down briefly Wednesday in the wake of a foodborne illness probe tied to four sick customers, health department officials said Thursday.

The sickened guests ate at Zov’s on Portola on three different dates between Sept. 16-22, said Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for the county’s Health Care Agency. All four people tested positive for shigella, an intestinal disease that triggers severe diarrhea.

Health investigators cleared Zov’s to reopen the same day after the restaurant’s owners took quick action to sanitize the restaurant and discard all ready-to-eat foods including fresh produce.

Employees, who cannot return to work until they are medically cleared by the health agency, were also given training on proper hand-washing, Thompson said.

Major Violations pose the highest risk of causing food poisoning (or foodborne illness. Major violations are sometimes resolved during the inspection or a reinspection may be scheduled to verify compliance.

Minor Violations pose less risk of causing food poisoning (or foodborne illness), and do not warrant immediate verification of compliance.

Nancy Luna reports with the Orange county Register that an upscale restaurant at Fashion Island that bills itself as a healthy living establishment is at the center of a suspected foodborne illness outbreak involving at least six victims, county officials said Thursday.

The sickened diners tested positive for Shigella, an intestinal bacteria that triggers severe diarrhea. The “common factor” for each victim was they ate a meal at True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach on Aug. 21, 23, 24 and 25, county healthy officials said.

The county shut the restaurant Aug. 28 to investigate the outbreak. None of the victims ate the same dish, leading investigators to believe that the bacteria was spread “person to person,” said Denise Fennessy, director of Environmental Health at the county’s Health Care Agency.

Just got this email:

I ate at Red O on August 24 and got deathly sick. I was notified by the nurse at Orange County CDC that I had Shigella, documented from HOAG Hospital lab test results. I have been on Cipro for a week. I just read that True Food in Newport beach (1/2 mile from Red O) was shut down with an outbreak of Shigella.

Salsarita’s Restaurant in the Walmart Home Office Café in Bentonville has reopened following a Shigella outbreak that made 275 sick in nine states according to the Benton County Health Department. According to the Arkansas State Health Department dozens of employees were also ill with Shigellosis.

The Benton County Health Department conducted an inspection on June 18, shorty after people started getting sick. Inspectors found nine violations on that inspection. Of those nine violations, five were marked priority, meaning they were concerns that needed to be fixed fast. Some violations included, employees not washing their hands or touching cooked food without wearing gloves. The report said raw chicken had been dripping on bottled drinks.

On a follow-up inspection on June 23, inspectors found seven violations, some of them the same as the previous inspection.

After the outbreak, Eurest, the third-party company in charge of managing the kitchen, hired a quality assurance manager and will retrain staff on the company’s safety protocols.

Shigellosis is an infectious disease caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella. Most who are infected with Shigella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps starting a day or two after they are exposed to the bacteria. The diarrhea is often bloody. Shigellosis usually resolves in 5 to 7 days. Persons with shigellosis in the United States rarely require hospitalization. A severe infection with high fever may be associated with seizures in children less than 2 years old.

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About Bill Marler

Bill Marler is an accomplished personal injury and products liability attorney. He began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.